On Jan. 15, I walked a man-made path or berm of elevated rock and sand on Norrish Creek, near Dewdney, with reporter Paul Johnson and biologists Dr. Marvin Rosenau and John Werring.
Deep holes above and below a CP Rail bridge show where gravel excavation and stream bed rechanneling have occurred.
The main current of Norrish Creek is now three metres below us, so low, in fact, that swimmers complain their favourite pools are only 鈥渒nee-deep鈥� under the CP Rail bridge.
A lower water level here is bad news for salmon spawning and rearing in nearby creeks fed by groundwater flowing side-ways from Norrish. One of them is Worth Creek.
In fact, on Dec. 5, I called the department of fisheries hotline to report hundreds of dead salmon on a bone-dry gravel bed there Their eggs were dead. Did the lowered water table at Norrish cause the drop in water there?
READ RELATED 鈥� ALONG THE FRASER: Fluctuating creek levels destroy thousands of salmon eggs
鈥淚t鈥檚 just common sense,鈥� said Werring.
鈥淭he water from Norrish Creek would normally be high enough to push surrounding groundwater laterally to side-channels like Worth. But they鈥檝e lowered the water table in Norrish. That means there鈥檚 no hydraulic pressure side-ways to do that,鈥� he explained.
Rosenau agreed.
鈥淭he erosion above and below the bridge is massive. It appears the recent large gravel removal may have had the effect of draining some of the groundwater that fed Worth Creek and other connected streams to the detriment of the spawning habitats," Rosenau said.
He was part of gravel removal applications in the 1990s.
"We would never have approved this amount of material. This project to me seems like pure environmental rape.鈥�
Was the removal officially approved? Last month, I put the question to department of fisheries habitat protection manager Murray Manson.
He confirmed DFO approved the work by CPR.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of gravel removal going on,鈥� Manson told me, "because they [CPR] worried about their bridge during the high-water season. Maybe they dug a deep channel and it鈥檚 draining on one side.鈥�
Today, Norrish Creek鈥檚 main current runs almost entirely down its lowered western side. There鈥檚 just a long and wide expanse of dry gravel 鈥� the berm 鈥� on the eastern bank now. This means that downstream, there鈥檚 not enough water for coho to swim up from Norrish to the mouth of Worth Creek.
Where did the water go?
鈥淲ithout the hydraulic pressure, instead of expanding into the flood plain, it flows back into the mainNorrish channel. If it had remained at its natural level three metres higher ground water flow laterally through the ground and feed that fish habitat," says Werring.
It's not only the spawning habitat in Worth Creek that has been threatened by restricted groundwater movement. Others nearby include Railroad creek with 400 coho this season. Chilqua creek has had 11,000 chum. Hawkins creek, regularly sees 200 salmon. Inch creek has recorded upwards of 8,000 spawners. All are fed by the same groundwater from Norrish.
No one may have anticipated the impacts on fish and habitat from gravel removal in Norrish, but 鈥渁ll parties鈥� should now concentrate on restoring the aquifer and its flows to adjacent creeks.
A first step, an unnamed source suggested, is to reverse the hole under the CP bridge, and return the channel to its pre-2021 path.
Rosenau and Werring want a stop on gravel extraction until a detailed plan is implemented.
They too, have ideas for bringing this area back to health, including a revised and transparent development approval process, with guarantees of public oversight.
There鈥檚 too much to lose here and throughout B.C. if this doesn鈥檛 happen quickly.
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鈥� Jack Emberly is a retired teacher, local author, and environmentalist
